MUS 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Scherzo, Program Music, Word Painting
Document Summary
Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in bonn, germany, the son of a court musician. He had a very unhappy childhood, as his father was an alcoholic and beat him in order to make him practice. He was exposed to enlightenment thinking in bonn, however, and was powerfully shaped by those ideas as a young man. Moved to vienna to study with haydn, where he remained until his death. He started to lose his hearing after he turned 30, and eventually became completely deaf. This forced him to give up performing (he was a virtuoso pianist) and makes his living strictly by composing. Was very forceful, and comes through in his very forceful music. While beethoven had numerous sufferings and personal issues, he nonetheless made a high impact on the world of music. Considered the turning point from classical style to romantic style. He is the first of the romantic ideal of the suffering high .
